PAFRA
RJ Eppers

This page was last updated on: 28 April, 2008
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Hometown: Anchorage, AK

Branch of Service: US Air Force

Duty Status: Senior Airman – Active Duty

Home of Record: Great Falls, MT

RJ Eppers was born October 16th, 1985 in Great Falls, Montana.  He was an avid hunter and fisherman as well as playing nearly every sport through school.  The one that really stuck with him was hockey, which he played through his senior year.  He was also very active in the youth sports communities where he was often umpiring baseball and refereeing hockey.  RJ graduated from Charles M Russell High School in 2004.
After graduation, RJ enlisted in the US Air Force in September.  He attended Basic Military Training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas, and attended Technical Training School at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, Texas, to be an Aircraft Electrical and Environmental Systems Technician.  Following Tech School, RJ moved to Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, Alaska, in 2005 where he is currently stationed.  He is currently an Electrical and Environmental Systems Journeyman and holds the rank of Senior Airman.  RJ is relocating to Ellsworth AFB near Rapid City, South Dakota in April with his wife, Emily, and daughter, Kalila.
Growing up in Montana all his life, RJ never got into the sport of rodeo.  In fact, his first year in Alaska, of all places, he got on his first bull and first bareback horse.  His first bull was at the 2005 Alaska State Fair Rodeo, where he tied for second place among a full bullriding competition.  Like catching a fish, RJ’s hook was set. With such a short rodeo season in Alaska (May-Sept), RJ took every chance he could get to get on bulls. Nearly every rodeo he was taking as many exhibition bulls as he could and in the winters he took leave down in the states to find bulls, including Iowa, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Texas, and Oklahoma.  In 2006, RJ added the Alaska Circuit to PAFRA and has been the Circuit Director since.  In 2006, he was Bullriding Circuit Champion.  In 2007, he was Reserve Champion in both the bullriding and bareback riding.  He finished the PAFRA season as the Reserve Bareback Champion.  RJ has riddin in the only 3 Enterprise Last Frontier PBR Challenge events to be held in Alaska.  In each of the two full years he competed in Alaska rodeo, he finished in the top 10 in bullriding.
At the 2007 PAFRA World Finals, RJ was elected to the PAFRA Secretary position for the 2008 and 2009 seasons.  His main goals for these years is to increase membership, sponsorship, and advertising and to strive to make PAFRA a premier and professional rodeo association.

Events: Bullriding and Bareback Riding